The Walk Begins….Tomorrow

We spent three good days and nights in Glasgow and are telling ourselves we are now over jet lag. Not sure we believe it yet, but that’s what we keep telling ourselves.

Tonight, we are staying in the small, but very nice, town of Milngavie (pronounced “mull-guy”) just outside Glasgow. It is a tidy little town with friendly people and a beautiful pedestrianized town center. The West Highland Way begins directly from the town center.

“Milngavie: try it, live it, love it.”

We are packing and re-packing our backpacks tonight. Do we have everything we need? Do we have things that we don’t need? How am I ever going to carry all this for up to 16 miles?

As we begin this wonderful journey across Scotland a little introduction to Scotland itself seems timely. Scotland is 274 miles long, 154 miles wide at the widest point and only 60 miles wide at its border with England. It covers 30,416 square miles which makes it about half the size of Washington State. If the entire jagged coastline of Scotland were straightened out, it would stretch over 6,000 miles or about the distance from Seattle to Orlando, Florida and back. Scotland has 790 islands, but only 130 are inhabited. (Wait a minute, Scotland is an island. Can an island have islands? I guess so!)

Because of its northerly location, Scotland experiences “the midnight sun.” In late June, in the northern areas, daylight lasts about 18 hours. Hopefully, we won’t still be hiking at midnight! Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and Glasgow is the largest city. Although comprising less than 1/2 of 1% of the world’s population, Scots have been awarded 11% of all Nobel prizes. Those Scots have smarts!

According to legend, Saint Regulus came to Scotland in the 4th century and brought with him “an arm bone, 3 fingers, a tooth, and a knee-pan” belonging to St. Andrew. Since then, the apostle has been Scotland’s patron saint. According to tradition, St. Andrew was crucified on a cross shaped like an “X”, therefore, the design of the Scottish flag is known as as the St. Andrew’s cross.

The thistle is Scotland’s national emblem…and also the emblem of the West Highland Way. Legend says that a raiding party of Danes came upon some Scots in the dead of night. One of the Danes stepped upon a prickly thistle and his loud cry of pain woke the unsuspecting Scots who immediately attacked the invaders and gained a complete victory.

The West Highland Way

Now more than 40 years old, the West Highland Way was the first long-distance route to be officially designated in Scotland. It runs 96 miles from the outskirts of Glasgow to Fort William. It is listed by National Geographic as one of the world’s top 10 best trails. It is now one of 26 long-distance routes recently designated as Scotland’s Great Trails.

This obelisk in Milngavie marks the beginning of the trail with the Scottish thistle that we will see on trails signs for the next 96 miles.

Okay, now we know all about it. Now we just have to do it! We have been planning this journey for 11 months and now it’s here. Hard to believe. Tomorrow we take our first steps on the West Highland Way.

God bless,
Coe